This spring, we challenged Up to Us alumni to tell us about an issue that matters to them and then create a podcast about it. In partnership with University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism Advanced Media Institute, a selected group of alumni were awarded a scholarship to learn the technical and narrative skills needed to immerse themselves in one of today’s fast-growing storytelling mediums. We provided the microphones, and our alumni brought their stories. Here is what they created.
Name: Cathleen Jeanty, Spring 2015
What do you do? Freelance Journalist
Your podcast: State of Bankruptcy
Tell us your podcast about?
State of Bankruptcy is a journalistic foray into the eurozone and its adherents. It features a standard question and answer format with eurozone policy experts from around the globe.
What compelled you to pick the subject matter you chose for your podcast?
I wanted to know why it is that some countries (like Germany) have experienced an economic boost from the euro while others lag behind. I read some books like The Euro by Joseph Stiglitz and And the Weak Suffer What They Must by Yanis Varoufakis, and I grew fascinated with the subject! I began researching, and the information I found was quite staggering and eye-opening. I thought, “I have to make my podcast about this!” Though my podcast isn’t very long, I hope to continue the project and delve deeper into the eurozone, its history, and even its future. At the end of my podcast, I allude to Ashoka Mody, author of EuroTragedy: A Drama in Nine Acts being a guest on my podcast. That’s not -yet- true, but I can only hope!
What was one thing that surprised you or that you learned about using the podcast format to tell your story?
I was surprised by how much fun I had editing the audio, and the sense of accomplishment I felt at the end of the project! I hadn’t edited audio in a while, so I had a bit of apprehension about the process. I thought the incrementalism of it would be frustrating, but it was so much easier than I had imagined. It was really satisfying to watch something go from a bunch of little pieces into a whole narrative.
How do you see learning how to podcast benefitting your current job or your future career goals?
Ultimately, I want to make the podcast a real thing! Working with different types of media has helped me frame narratives in a different light, which has been really cool!
What do you hope listeners will learn or take away from your podcast?
I hope my podcast foments a sense of curiosity in my listeners. Though there are many countries utilizing the euro, there’s a clear inequality among them, and I want my listeners to look more deeply at that.
To listen to all of the podcast episodes created by our alumni and to learn more about this opportunity, click here. To hear more about our different alumni programs, visit our website.